


Wellspring

by petrovasfire



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Neverland (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 16:11:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petrovasfire/pseuds/petrovasfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hook and Emma each find something interesting in the island's remedial spring water.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wellspring

“I thought you said there weren’t any fish in here.”

“There aren’t.”

Emma leans over and scrutinises the water. Hook watches her, agog, from one corner of the wellspring before a downy sliver of white squirming in the water catches his attention.

He sees a wisp of tail feathers first. The creature waddling clumsily in the spring is no bigger than your average goose, but it’s definitely larger than a duck. Hook reaches out a hand to touch it, but it flaps its wings rapidly and starts crying out in loud, trumpet-like calls before his hand can even graze against its snowy feathers. Then it dips its head into the water, letting the water still.

 _Bloody hell,_ Hook thinks. _It’s a swan._

When he glances at Emma, he notices that she’s still eyeballing her corner of the spring in silence. That’s when he realises that she didn’t exactly see what _he_ saw, and that his eyes were merely playing tricks on him.

Or rather, the magical spring that brew curable water was playing tricks on his heart. He swallows a lump that has suddenly sprouted at the base of his throat. He’s anxious to know what lies underneath the surface of the other side of the spring. If he saw a swan, then what was Emma looking at?

A fishhook, probably?

_No. Too obvious._

Perhaps it’s an old bottle of rum, with its corners blanketed by sand, and she’s looking so hard only to try and get a better look.

Then he immediately gives himself a mental slap. What gives him the idea that it’s _him_ she’s thinking of, anyway? Perhaps it’s Baelfire’s old rag that she sees floating in the water.

“Hey, do you see that?”

“See what?”

“ _That_ ,” Emma urges, pointing to the water. “Look, it’s moving.”

On that note, Hook’s curiosity is quickly rekindled. He squints at the water, but it’s as still as the night. “I don’t see anything, Swan. What is it?”

“It looks like a… a _codfish_.”

Hook curses Pan under his breath.


End file.
